gender equality

Whose are the voices we hear at concerts? Which stories are conveyed through art music, and which are not? Questions like this are becoming increasingly common, and now we are starting to find answers to them. The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is engaged in a project titled HUOM, History's Unheard Orchestral Music. The project is reviving orchestral music written by Finnish woman composers in the 19th and 20th centuries, thereby re-evaluating our cultural history, revitalising our concert institutions and fostering new collaboration between music scholars and performing musicians.

Composer Alexandra Zheleznova-Armfelt (1866–1933) was a member of the Finnish community in St Petersburg and created her career outside Finland itself. A review of her life and work adds to our understanding of the cosmopolitan nature of our musical history and also lends a perspective on cultural life in St Petersburg and in the Baltic Sea region in general around the turn of the 20th century.

Ida Moberg (1859–1947) wished to command ensembles that produced a large sound while also touching human emotions: Most of her output is for orchestra or choir or both. The topics of her works largely has to do with individual’s spiritual metamorphosis.

Folk music through a feminist perspective has been a thing in Sweden for several years, but Finland’s first series of feminist folk music concerts is only now taking place. Singer and journalist Amanda Kauranne and her team explore difficult topics and taboos of womanhood in four concerts.

What is the societal function of music – and art in general – in addressing violence? Should art depict violence, and if so, how?

The Turku City Theatre’s original musical depicts Touko Laaksonen’s artistic success while also addressing the painful history of homosexuals in Finland and celebrating difference, acceptance, love and sex.

Issues of gender balance, diversity and cultural appropriation have become increasingly prominent in many areas recently, and art music is no exception. Lauri Supponen discusses these issues, using certain Nordic contemporary music festivals and projects as case studies.

Susanna Mälkki began her three-year term as Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra this autumn. We asked her about the themes of her first HPO year and her thoughts about links between music and the cultural environment.

In the heart of folk music is an idea of equality: professionals and amateurs playing the same repertoire, each at their own skill level, as valued members of the community. There is a natural curiosity about different cultures and any form of exclusion is discouraged. However, gender equality is an issue that still seems to need some fine tuning. What is the status of female folk musicians in the Finland of 2016?

Boys are conspicuous by their absence in basic music education. This phenomenon is not uniquely Finnish; it has been a source of concern for music education scholars internationally for quite some time. While music playschools have an equal number of girls and boys, in instrumental studies the gender balance tilts alarmingly, fewer than one third of students being boys.

Baroque violinist and conductor Kreeta-Maria Kentala writes about how attitudes towards baroque music and female conductors have changed during her career.

In 2016 women are still under-represented in classical concert repertoire, never mind the canon. At contemporary music concerts, however, women appear as composers with increasing frequency. How should we address the issue of a composer’s (female) gender in this day and age? Are we really still talking about this, in Finland?

Conductor Susanna Mälkki is becoming bigger and bigger in Paris. And she is still only 41-years of age. Barely a grown-up in the masculine and patriarchic world of conducting.